


Underneath

by leafyxthiefy



Series: Rare Pairs Week 2016 [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: F/M, Hiding in Closets, Storms, anniversary fun, haunting past
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 04:19:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8313751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leafyxthiefy/pseuds/leafyxthiefy
Summary: Ace has a weakness, one that he is ashamed to admit to, even to Nami. He's always put up a brave front, and in a city that rarely gets any severe weather changes, he had been safe. But one night away from home could shatter his security and leave him more vulnerable than he's comfortable with.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [daydreamfox](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=daydreamfox).



> Hey Guys!~ So day two of Rarepairs week, and well here we go!
> 
> Song / Movie: Underneath - Adam Lambert
> 
> Theme/Focus: Storm
> 
> Beta'd by the wonderful Amaranthpaipai, thank you!~
> 
> I own nothing and am entirely dedicating this particular entry to Daydreamfox. So go thank her for introducing us to this wonderful pair! Enjoy!~

"Are you sure you have everything? It can get cold up there." Nami warned as she set the last of her suit cases in the trunk of their car, giving Ace one last chance to sneak anything else in.

"Well, let's see... I have three sets of clothes for the weekend, ten canvases, a sketchbook, my art junk, a healthy amount of bug spray, ten weeks worth of protein bars, my narcolepsy medicine, my socks, shoes, underwear, hat… Ah!" Ace snapped his fingers and caught Nami in an embrace from behind, making her yelp in surprise as he kissed her freckled cheek.

"And the best girlfriend in the world." Ace laughed as her cheeks caught a pink tint and she huffed.

"You're such a sap." Nami said with a flustered blush which still burned bright. Ace could only laugh as he whisked the petite redhead into his arms and spun her around.

"But, am I wrong?" he asked with a face splitting grin.

"I guess not," Nami laughed along with him, wrapping her arms around his neck and stealing a kiss from the raven haired man. "I'll give you that one."

"Then we're all set! Would you like to drive, or should I?" Ace asked setting her down, only to receive a cuff to his head.

"I'm driving of course, because one: this is my car, and two: Law said no driving until you get used to the new dosage that he gave you. So get your ass on the shotgun seat, Portgas."

Ace laughed and stole one last kiss from the tip of her nose, "Have I ever told you how much I love you?" He asked and slipped away just as her cheeks got heated again.

"Maybe once or twice." Nami called after him and couldn't help the smile that overcame her features.

She and Ace were about to celebrate their fifth anniversary, and she had finally managed to convince Bellemere to lend them the cabin for the weekend. So that was where the two lovers were headed, a small retreat away from the city and the stress it caused.

A brisk gust of wind swept past Nami as she climbed into the car, and she hummed softly. Looked like they would be in for a small drizzle, but that was fine, she was sure the woods would look beautiful during and after the rain.

Strapping herself in, Nami started the car and the trip to the cabin commenced.

* * *

The ride there wasn't so long, maybe a few hours or so depending on the traffic and obviously, thanks to her timing. They were able to make it without a single hitch.

"And here we are!" Nami announced cutting off the engine and undoing her seatbelt.

Next to her, Ace whistled lowly in appreciation. "Woah, it looks just like something out of a postcard. I thought your folks didn't use it often?"

"They really don't, Cora uses it mostly during bass season, but that passed months ago... One of them must've come up here and cleaned it up a bit. Remind me to hunt them down and thank them." Nami said with a gleam in her eyes that made Ace wonder what exactly she was planning for the pair.

But before he could think further on it, Nami slipped out of the car with instructions for him to start unloading while she opened up the cabin and let it air out.

Moments later, Ace was standing inside the cozy little house, admiring the furniture and overall atmosphere of the place.

"So you used to spend every summer here?" Ace asked quietly as Nami came to stand next to him.

"Mhm." She hummed in response as she wrapped his arm around her shoulders and snuggled into his side. "Every summer since we were adopted. It was a home away from home. Nojiko, Law, and I looked forward to this every year, even if one of us acted like a grump."

Ace laughed and bent down to kiss the crown on her head. "You had a reputation to uphold as the family grump, who could blame you?" He teased and ran away when Nami spun to face him.

The afternoon was followed by laughter and calm alike, Nami and Ace went on a pleasant hike around the woods and had a picnic by a quiet stream. And on their way back, they even saw a large buck that all but glared at them before trotting away and disappearing into the woods.

Later on, they decided that going for a swim in the lake would be a good idea; and we won't point any fingers, but one of them broke the branch that held the tire swing.

It wasn't until the cyan sky overhead became overcast and the air cooled down that Nami frowned.

"Looks like we're in for worse weather than I had thought, these clouds look pretty dark." She noted, pointing at the sky and wrapping the towel closer to her.

Ace looked up and tilted his head to the side, the clouds looked nearly the same to him. He might have an eye for detail when it came to his work, but weather was not as easy for him to determine as it was for Nami. She was rarely–if ever–wrong though, so he nodded and got out of the water, pulled Nami into his arms, and headed back into the cabin.

"You don't mind if I take the first shower, do you babe? Or do you want to come with me?" Nami asked as soon as they stepped onto the porch, shooting Ace a sly smile.

"As tempting as the offer is." Ace pouted and kissed her forehead, "I think you should go ahead. I'll start a fire to keep the house warm."

Nami mirrored his pout, but silently acknowledged that it would indeed be getting colder with the storm that was fast approaching and let the subject go. "I won't take long. And please, try not to burn the house down."

"You got it, gorgeous." Ace winked and held the door open for his love, stepping in after her.

Pretty soon, the muffled sound of running water faded into the background as Ace stocked the fireplace and in a matter of seconds and brought the fire to life. He had always been good at that, lighting a fire. In fact, he was able to make a fire out of nearly anything, so long as there was a way to light something, he could do it. And for that, he was labeled as a pyro growing up. But hey, the skill came in handy when needed.

With the fire warming up the small one story house, Ace discarded the towel he was wrapped in, draping it over the back of a chair for it to dry while he looked at a wooden picture frame. He had to smile. How could he not when he was looking at a younger version of his girlfriend having a great time?

She couldn't be more than fifteen in the picture. Beside her stood her two siblings, Nojiko on her right and Law on her left, the younger boy looked as disgruntled as ever, while Nojiko smiled as widely as her sister. In the background their dad, Rocinante, was enveloping them all in a hug while looking past the camera to–Ace could only guess–Bellemere.

Ace was so immersed in looking over the family pictures that at first, he failed to distinguish the difference between the muffled shower water and the subtle pitter patter of the rain, nor did he notice the telltale sign of a rumbling storm. It wasn't until the clap assaulted his hearing and the blinding light illuminated the room that he noticed it.

Ace straightened up so quickly that his spine cracked from the tension. The picture frame he had been holding moments ago forgotten and dropped onto the wooden floor, where the glass shattered and spilled.

_Strip away the flesh and bone_

_Look beyond the lies you've known_

A second clap of thunder shook the house and Ace's heart skipped a beat in his chest. His breath caught in his constricting throat and refused to feed his brain oxygen for a precious moment before he was able to grasp what was happening.

A storm. His brain supplied sluggishly and Ace fought to move from his spot.

_Everybody wants to talk about a freak_

_No one wants to dig that deep_

_Let me take you underneath_

* * *

Nami shut off the water and sighed contentedly as she wringed out her hair and reached for a fresh towel to wrap herself in. The rain was falling steadily now, coming in faster as the seconds ticked by, and by the sound of it, they had just made it to shelter in time.

The beautiful redhead smiled rather proudly to herself as she stepped out onto the mat and counted the seconds between the strikes of thunder to determine how far away the storm was.

Three miles.

It was pretty close, too close for comfort, but Nami supposed there was nothing they could do but wait it out. So she continued to finish off, doing her best to speed up her normal process in order to hand the shower over to Ace. The poor guy must still be soaked, even if he had been standing in front of the fire he built.

Quickly placing on her sleepwear, Nami left the steaming bathroom and smiled when she was met with the warm air trapped in the small cabin. Leave it to Ace to get the place so warm in a matter of minutes.

"Ace, the bathroom's all ready for you." Nami said as she walked over to the kitchen and peeked in only to find it empty.

Well, that was odd to say the least. She would have thought for sure that he would have raided the non-perishables, at most.

"Ace, babe, where are you?" Nami called as she headed to the bedroom in case he had gone in there.

_Baby, better watch your step_

_Never mind what's on the left_

Empty again. Nami frowned as she began to wonder if Ace had fallen asleep somewhere inside the house. She looked in the living room next and her brow twitched again; he was not there either. Soon, she had looked into each room and yet, the freckled man was nowhere in sight.

Nami grew worried as she all but ran to the front door only to find it locked, which was a relief in itself. The cabin could only be locked from inside after all, unless one had the keys, which she did. So there went that option.

Flashes of lightning continued to paint the room in white and Nami searched the floor, and came upon a fallen picture frame. With growing trepidation, Nami picked up the object and looked over the photo, an old picture of her and her family...

_You're gonna see things you might not wanna see_

_It's still not that easy for me underneath_

Nami was further unsettled by her find. Had Ace dropped this? Was he hiding because he was afraid to make her mad? Nami doubted it, Ace was not the type of person to do that, if he had broken it, he would have apologized a thousand times over for the mess _after_ he cleaned it up. So then what?

_A red river of screams_

_Underneath_

Nami was stumped as she placed the picture back and stepped around the fallen glass. What could have happened?

She gave another sweep of the house as another and particularly loud thunderclap shook the small cabin, causing even her to jump in surprise. Nami wasn't afraid of the weather, she was more fascinated by it than anything else. But knowing that Ace was _somewhere_ in the cabin, possibly knocked out and by himself... Let's just say Nami didn't have a good feeling about it.

Ace wasn't the type of guy to just go missing, nor was he the sort to hide in places to wait out and scare her. Well, okay, he was, but only with his brothers; those rules did not apply to her, he was nothing but kind and caring towards her.

Biting her lip, Nami stopped in the middle of the hall and listened to the thunder, forcing herself to calm down as she thought about all the possible places her boyfriend could be.

"Ace?" She called out once more, receiving a defying silence in return.

Nami opened her mouth to yell at him again, and paused as she heard the barest rustle of clothes to her left, right before the thunder resounded again.

Her brow furrowed as she looked at the closed door of the hallway closet and very soon she frowned. Seriously, if Ace was just waiting to pounce at her and scare her after this! Nami growled as she pulled the the door open, "I swear to god, Portgas, if y–" her words left her as she stared at an empty closet.

Ace was _not_ there waiting to jump out at her. There were only coats left there from years before; and a new addition, Ace's hat, where he hung it earlier that day. Nami's features reflected her confusion, however, just as she was about to close the door, lightning flashed and something caught her eye.

A few drops of water were barely drying at her feet and beyond that… An orange towel.

Kneeling, Nami looked deeper into the closet and her anger flared again. "So you _were_ hiding in here!" She accused, and Ace flinched, curling into himself further.

Nami had been expecting a devilish grin, perhaps even a boisterous laugh from the dark haired man, but not this. Immediately, her anger was washed away with worry and guilt as she reached out for her boyfriend. "Acey?"

He didn't react, though. Not even when she laid a gentle hand on his shoulder, though it was only then that she could feel him trembling.

"Ace, honey, are you okay?" Nami asked in the gentlest voice she had.

Ace shook his head as well as he could in his curled up position, and Nami was left confused as to what exactly was causing this behavior in her lover. Why was Ace in the closet, hiding and shaking like a leaf? "If it's because of the picture frame… It's okay, it wasn't worth much, just something Cora picked up from the dollar store." Nami whispered.

Ace muttered something into the cocoon of his arms, but before Nami could ask him to clarify, another clap shook the cabin, and Ace clutched at his head.

And it was then that Nami placed two and two together. "Ace…" She whispered as she saw the unmasked terror in his tear filled eyes.

_Tears in my eyes_

_Underneath_

Nami wasted no time in offering comfort, pulling Ace into her lap and cradling him into her chest as she stroked back his tangled mess of black hair. "Oh my god Ace, I had no idea, I'm so sorry." She whispered.

_Stars in my black and blue sky_

_And underneath_

_Under my skin_

_Underneath, the depths of my sin_

_Look at me_

_Now do you see?_

Ace was afraid of thunder, he had been terrified of them for as long as he could remember. He knew that he was safe in the cabin, that it was nothing more than wind and rain, some sort of weather phenomena where the hot and cold air mix and create the deafening thundering clap.

He had read into the subject so much that he knew just about everything about the storms as well as Nami did. He should have _known_ what the overhanging clouds meant when he saw them earlier, but he hadn't seen the signs. He wasn't looking for them, and he had failed in spotting them, now here he was at his most vulnerable, hiding in a closet of all places.

_Welcome to my world of truth_

_I don't wanna hide any part of me from you_

Ace held onto Nami as tightly as he could without hurting her when she pulled him against her, and he was forever grateful for the action. But he couldn't voice that at the moment. Ace was pretty much paralyzed by this irrational fear.

And he wanted to assure her so badly that she had nothing to be sorry for; she was not at fault, it was him, he was worrying her and he was sorry. But Ace couldn't say anything, instead all he could do was cling onto his lover, taking comfort in her strength as she whispered above him, murmuring reassuring facts about the storm outside of their hiding spot.

_I'm standing here with no apologies_

_Such a beautiful release_

_You inside of me_

His fear stemmed back to when he was younger, back when Roger was still in the picture, or well... As much as he ever was. Ace had lost his mother in infancy long ago, and had never truly been able to remember much of her. All he had were photos to recall her by. So Roger had gained full custody of Ace, but the bastard didn't have the slightest idea of how to be a father, and instead continued to do as he pleased. Once Ace could more or less not kill himself while at home alone, Roger took off to the streets, drinking burning liquor with his buddies and gambling away the majority of his paycheck.

So, on rainy nights, Ace was left alone. He was left defenseless and scared to death of the storms when they were in season, and that fear was carried on into his later years.

After Ace was taken by the city officials, he was placed in a foster home where he was eventually adopted into the Newgate household. And there too, he experienced his frights when storms rolled in; Ace hid in dark closets, under beds and in the pantry a couple of times. The family eventually caught on, and together they helped Ace put together a Storm calming kit.

_A red river of screams_

_Underneath_

But Ace hadn't foreseen this outcome, how was he supposed to know that storms would be in season out here? Should he have guessed, he would have brought it along.

_Tears in my eyes_

_Underneath_

Ace would have warned Nami, he would have-he would have done many things differently in order to avoid scaring Nami as he had, but it was too late for that. Ace had reverted to his old habits and hid from her, worried her and he would have to make it up to her as soon as he could. He had ruined the weekend, he was sure of it.

_Stars in my black and blue sky_

_And underneath_

_Under my skin_

_Underneath, the depths of my sin_

_Look at me_

_Now do you see?_

Nami held Ace throughout the rest of the storm, telling him of all the times she and her family had done this and that in the little cabin. She told Ace the story of how Cora had once caught a two foot long catfish in the lake only to fall into the water right after and let the creature escape. She recounted the time she and Nojiko thought they could make trees grow out of fallen leaves.

The stories calmed Ace, enough so that he was no longer shaking, or flinching whenever a loud boom of thunder resounded around them. And pretty soon, he was able to respond to Nami, asking questions about her stories and counting along with her to determine the distance of the storm.

_Underneath, underneath, underneath..._

_Underneath, Underneath_

When it was finally over, Nami kissed his head and Ace let his head fall onto the crook of her shoulder, "I'm so sorry Nami. I'm sorry you had to find me like this."

Nami stayed quiet for a few moments and nuzzled her cheek to his dry hair, "Don't be sorry, we should have seen the forecast before heading out here, I'm so used to just _knowing_ how the weather will behave that I forget not everyone can see what I do. Are you okay, Ace?"

It took him a moment, but soon Ace nodded. "Yeah… Yes. I'm fine now."

Giving him one last squeeze, Nami gently pulled him away and smiled softly. "Good, let's get you into warmer clothes then, and I'll make us some hot cocoa, how does that sound?"

"You're the best, Nami, you know that?"

"I've heard it once or twice." She said lightly and helped him out of the closet.

_Welcome to my world of truth_

"Have you always had astraphobia?" She asked Ace after he had changed.

Ace sipped his cup, stalling for a full minute before nodding sheepishly. "Since I was a kid, yeah. Marco tried to get me to go to a psychologist, you know, to help me cope, but I never liked talking about it. What kind of grown-ass man still hides away from lightning?"

"One in three, actually." Nami supplied and sighed, reaching over to his hand that twirled a pen nervously as he was prone to do. "Ace, why did you never tell me?"

Ace frowned, "Well, it's not the first thing I like admitting to, and since there are no storms back at home I never saw it as something that was needed to be said. And..." Ace ran his free hand through his disheveled hair and sighed. "More so, I didn't know how to tell you that after all these years I was still afraid of storms."

_A red river of screams_

_Underneath_

Nami hummed in response, and though she wanted to chide Ace for having kept such a secret from her, she honestly couldn't blame him. She could see where he was coming from even if she did not like the way she had to find out.

_Tears in my eyes_

_Underneath_

"Did you think I would judge you based solely on that and nothing else, Ace?" Nami asked, and when she didn't receive an answer, she frowned.

"I wouldn't, you know? And I still won't. Phobias aren't something to mess around with, and we all have them. It's just that some fears are felt more strongly than others. But never mind all of that, Ace, I love you. I have loved you even before we started dating."

Nami smiled and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. "Back when you would stop by the house to do your little odd jobs for the summer, I started getting a crush on you. Why else do you think I kept making you all those mandarin treats?" Nami chuckled, "I don't give up my mandarins for just anyone, you know?"

_Stars in my black and blue sky_

_And underneath_

_Under my skin_

_Underneath, the depths of my sin_

_Look at me_

_Now do you see?_

Nami and Ace talked for a while longer, a conversation that consisted on him apologizing and her reassuring Ace that things would be okay; yes, she had been scared of what had happened to him during the storm, but she understood. Nami wasn't going to hold any of that night's events after him, all she asked for was for him to tell her when something serious like that happened again.

_Underneath, underneath, underneath_

_Look at me_

_Do you see?_

_Yeah yeah yeah yeah!_

Ace brought up her hand and kissed her knuckles one at a time. For a long moment he was silent, ad Nami watched him closely as he stood up and effortlessly picked her up from the chair she had been sitting in.

Their hot cocoas had long ago turned cold and now remained forgotten on the table as Ace kissed the love of his life with so much warmth and love that left him feeling like a teenager again. Ace was just _happy_ to be with the most wonderful and amazing person he had ever met.

_Look at me_

_Do you see?_

"Yes, of course. And I'm sorry for not saying any of this earlier, Nami." Ace whispered in between breaths, "I love you."

"I love you too, Ace."

_Welcome to my world of truth_

_I don't wanna hide any part of me from you_

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, I really really love the aesthetic of this pairing, they are so adorable together! Nami and Ace make such a cute pair and if I did not ship Ace with just about half of the universe, then I would be on this as the top OTP of all my ships.
> 
> But anywho :D, I hope you enjoyed it too! Please let me know what you think?
> 
> See you guys tomorrow with anew one!~


End file.
